According to Tesla’s blog post, the factory
will produce Panasonic’s “high-efficiency PV cells and modules.” It’s
unclear if these solar cells will be the same as the HIT (Heterojunction
with Intrinsic Thin layer) solar cells that Panasonic currently produces.
Panasonic’s solar panels use several thin layers of silicon, a
two-sided cell design, and heat-resistant cell structures to trap and
produce energy more efficiently.

In June, Green Tech Media reported
that SunPower broke rooftop solar efficiency records with panels that
captured 24.1 percent of the Sun energy they were exposed to. The two
runners-up were Panasonic’s panels with 22.5 percent conversion
efficiency and SolarCity’s panels with 22.04 percent conversion
efficiency.

Tesla noted this morning that Panasonic’s solar cell technology would also be used to create the solar roof tiles that Tesla showed off in October.
A Tesla spokesperson told Ars that the solar tiles are still on track
to start rolling off the line by mid-summer 2017, and the company
expects to produce both solar roof tiles as well as more traditional
solar panels at the Buffalo factory. Tesla wrote that it intends
to produce a full gigawatt's worth of solar tile modules by 2019.

Reuters notes that Panasonic’s experience in
solar panel production is the result of a years-long push to focus on
corporate clients rather than on low-margin consumer electronics.